Last year in April, it was suggested to me by James at Rugged Tribe Entertainment that I join VEDA. “VEDA” stands for “Vlog Every Day in April (or August). He is talented young filmmaker (Peep Rugged Tribe Entertainment’s Channel) so when he said I should, I thought, “Why the heck not?!?”

So… I’m back at it again. I love making the videos because it is closer to you and I having a conversation. You get the facial expressions. You get the inflection of my voice. You get me. We get to be “peoples”. 🙂

(You also get to hear all the words and concepts I make up for fun that would not be included, per say, in something I write.)

But this April, two things are new! First, I am working with the prompts presented by the crew at BattenHall. I want to go “all in” on the value of what they do. It is one thing to get a “drive by” visit on your blog or website or vlog. It is another thing to communicate your brand effectively to establish consumer loyalty and keep them coming back to you faithfully… THAT is what they do!

Second, I am not going to post a video here every single day in April. Last year, anything that I wrote during VEDA (and I did write) was lost between the videos. I suppose I could separate content pages but… that sounds a lot like a project best suited to another day!

Not “never”… just “not now”.

I did want to drop one link to the playlist for the all the videos done this month. So if you don’t want to go to TFTBN YouTube Channel then you can watch the video below and they will all automatically play for you!

My poem, “Love Remains” was written for a short film “Lake House 2” produced by Rugged Tribe Entertainment. Part of why I love to read is to be able to connect with the author and see what is inside their heart and mind. I thought it might be fun to decode the poem and let you know exactly what I was thinking and hoping to convey.

Since the 5th stanza is the conclusion and draws the poem together and to a close, I thought we would take a look at it.

Both life and death express the same
Sadness sings sweet refrain
But time and tide are never tame
I’m gone but love remains

Here’s what I was trying to say:

1.) Both life and death express the same
This line is peeling back the mystery of life and death. Life and death are the very same thing at their core. They are both movement and transition. They are both changing, forming and reforming. There is essentially no difference between the two.

2.) Sadness sings sweet refrain
Sadness does not seem to know or respect this reality. In poetry and music the term refrain means “a repeated line or number of lines typically at the end of each verse”. More than this, the term also means “to hold back or restrain or stop from doing something.” In this instance, the sadness fueled by grief does not see the truth of life and death.

3.) But time and tide are never tame
The “time” it takes to heal and the “tide” of emotion are two powerful forces of nature, and also completely out of human control. And ultimately, the revelation of truth is also out of our control. The griever cannot master time, tide, sadness, or revelation. It goes when it goes. We get it when we get it.

4.) I’m gone but love remains
This is the ultimate revelation that the physical form has left and is no longer visible, but the energy and power that is LOVE never goes away. Both energy and power are never created or destroy. They are both only revealed or transformed. The same is true for love.

The topic listed for today was “Festivals” as in, what are you going to check out this summer. I don’t have any planned so instead I did the Day 10 topic on what is the one thing I would take to a desert island. (I’m a rebel, huh?)